Monday, August 15, 2016

Ex-backing Singer Backs Tarkan

Posted by Hatice Soylu from Istanbul, Turkey and Steffan Matrak from Moscow, Russia

Tarkan's ex-backing singer Murat Boz has posted a picture during his days working with the iconic singer - attracting over 96 thousand likes on his Instagram account.

Boz published the nostalgic photo with the caption, "Doing backing vocals for our megastar at the start of the noughties," tagging Tarkan in what is being read as support for the struggling pop icon.

Tarkan's song "Cuppa" has been performing below expectations in the charts, while his set of six shows in Istanbul this September have yet to sell out due to his political views.

Tarkan has come under criticism for boycotting a mass rally under the hashtag #TurkeyUnited to protest against last month's attempted coup. The music artist only broke his silence to publicise his own upcoming Harbiye concerts in Istanbul, ignoring the recent civilian deaths during the coup attempt.

Commentators have said there is a political message in Boz's post, too, as the current Turkish political party in power was formed a year later in 2001 - suggesting that things were better before Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's party was formed.

Boz, who has become a rising star in the Turkish pop music industry in recent years, is believed to share Tarkan's politics as he suffered his own public backlash over his failure to recognise the strength of public opinion against the coup - and his lovelife.

Bieber's ex Selena Gomez chided him for even suggesting such a drastic action against his fans before the famed duo descended into a host of allegations, including a shock hint that Gomez was previously involved with Zayn Malik.

Another artist who has had to block comments due to public outrage on her Insta account is Turkish singer Sıla Gençoğlu. She suffered serious setbacks after calling the mass anti-coup rally "a show" she wouldn't attend, as the public outcry over her comments grew.

With concerts cancelled nationwide, her supporters were quick to defend her, but Sıla was forced to release a statement on her social media accounts, explaining she had used her democratic right to speak her own mind and that her comments had been misinterpreted.